The present invention relates to inflight entertainment (IFE) systems and, more particularly, to personal interactive IFE systems.
Personal interactive IFE systems have become an important part of air travel. In conventional personal interactive IFE systems, a seatback video display unit (VDU) is mounted in the seat in front of each passenger and the passenger controls the video displayed on the VDU either by making finger inputs on a passenger control unit (PCU) mounted in the passenger's armrest or on the VDU's touch screen.
These conventional personal interactive IFE systems experience several problems. First, providing each passenger his or her own seatback VDU adds considerable weight to the aircraft. Second, installing and maintaining seatback VDUs is time consuming and costly, since a functioning seatback VDU must be individually mounted in each seat and individually connected to a content server at the head end of the aircraft. Third, seatback VDUs (and PCUs where used) are subject to frequent breakage due to abuse and misuse by passengers. Fourth, seatback VDUs create head-strike risks when an aircraft experiences unexpected motion due to turbulence or a hard landing. Fifth, in the case of touch screen seatback VDUs, some passengers have difficulty reaching the touch screen.